


night of the living dead at last

by fillintheblank



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, BAMF Hinata Shouyou, Blood and Gore, Hinata's really into knives I guess, I call the zombies weird things so I'm sorry if you hate that, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, i mean who isn't, this is kinda gory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:15:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fillintheblank/pseuds/fillintheblank
Summary: A Kagehina zombie apocalypse fic."Really, Hinata had no one but himself to blame for the current situation. Despite genuinely enjoying the company of the other members of his group, Hinata had a tendency to wander. He liked to say he was naturally curious, although Tsukishima was more inclined to call him “a fucking dumbass”. Hinata usually brushed off Tsukishima’s frequent insults, but he couldn’t help but agree in this situation. Alone, injured, soaking wet, armed with nothing but his two small knives and perseverance - Hinata had to admit that he was well and truly fucked. "
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	1. Hinata Goes for a Hike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata tries to find his way home after being separated from Yamaguchi. It doesn't go very well.

Hinata kept a careful eye on the ground in front of him; the last thing he needed right now was to once again roll down a hill like one of those godforsaken tumbleweeds Noya was always talking about. Walking through the forest was already difficult enough with his limp and the ivy that tangled his feet at every step. Really, Hinata had no one but himself to blame for the current situation. Despite genuinely enjoying the company of the other members of his group, Hinata had a tendency to wander. He liked to say he was naturally curious, although Tsukishima was more inclined to call him “a fucking dumbass”. Hinata usually brushed off Tsukishima’s frequent insults, but he couldn’t help but agree in this situation. Alone, injured, soaking wet, armed with nothing but his two small knives and perseverance - Hinata had to admit that he was well and truly fucked. 

Hinata had been out that afternoon collecting food from the forest with Yamaguchi when he became distracted. He had seen a flash of color fly behind a nearby tree trunk. A deep blue, the kind that Hinata didn’t often see in the wild. He was curious and bored of trying to sneak berries from the basket without being noticed by Yamaguchi, so he decided to take a little break and chase after the color. A few minutes later found him fruitlessly lunging at a dark blue butterfly; Hinata prided himself on speed, but the insect seemed to have some kind of Hinata-dodging sixth sense. 

Hinata dove for the butterfly once more, and this time he could feel its panicked fluttering as he finally, _finally_ , caged his hands arou--  
“Oh, _shit!_ ”

Hinata felt his foot catch on a root, sending him tumbling down a nearby slope. The sight of the canopy far above him seemed to blur with the trunks and ivy surrounding him until everything was a blur of green and brown. He could feel himself tear up ivy and shallow roots in his desperate attempt to grab something to slow his momentum. Unfortunately, Hinata seemed incapable of grabbing anything today, whether it was a butterfly or something that could stop him from rolling head-over-ass down a slope. 

Hinata felt himself drop into a sudden freefall. He flailed his limbs for a brief moment, and then landed with a crash in what he quickly realized was water. He had only a second to feel relieved that he hadn’t fallen off of a cliff before a swift current started him tumbling again. Hinata’s admittedly weak stomach was starting to feel the effects of all of this unplanned spinning. 

Seeing as he was still disorientated from his fall down the hill, Hinata struggled to regain his bearings in the current. He tried to open his eyes, but he was surrounded by the same swirling mass of gray bubbles no matter where he looked. Hinata desperately kicked out his leg, trying to feel for the bottom of the river. He connected with something, but his foot became caught beneath it and he felt his ankle _twist_.

Pain shot up Hinata’s leg. He opened his mouth to cry out, but instead got a mouthful of water. His lungs were beginning to burn, and the burn combined with the pain in his ankle worsened Hinata’s panic. He once again lashed his limbs around in an attempt to find something solid to grab onto. 

Finally, he felt his arm wrap around a hard object. Hinata tightened his hold and then dragged his other limbs through the water until he was wrapped entirely around the object. He lifted his head above the rushing water and gasped for breath. His arms and legs were starting to tremble from the effort of resisting the current’s pull. With one last burst of energy, Hinata pulled himself on top of the object that had saved him. 

Hinata laid back and tried to slow his breathing. Eventually, his desperate gasps became his usual measured breaths. However, the combination of panic, prolonged spinning, and the pain from his ankle caused dizziness to overcome Hinata and he leaned over and threw up into the rapidly moving current below him.

Hinata took stock of his situation. He was soaked to the bone, lying down on what he now recognized as a fallen tree stretched across the river. His left ankle was still throbbing, which was concerning. A quick feel at his hips showed that his knives were still somehow strapped to his belt, and Hinata let out a relieved sigh. The forest around him was unfamiliar, and he had no way of knowing how far the current had pulled him away from Yamaguchi.

Hinata straddled the log and sat up, swinging his uninjured leg as he thought. He hoped that he hadn’t strayed far from Yamaguchi, otherwise his next steps would become a lot more complicated. 

On the off chance that Yamaguchi would be able to hear him over the distance and the roar coming from the river, Hinata called for Yamaguchi. After a few minutes of increasingly desperate yelling, Hinata decided to wait and see if there was a response. Another few minutes, but Hinata still didn’t hear a return call from his friend. Hinata had half-expected this outcome, but was still disappointed that Yamaguchi wasn’t rushing to his rescue. 

Oh, well. Hinata had gotten himself through worse before.

First things first, Hinata conducted a careful inspection of the area around him. Although fast and scarily effective while fighting, Hinata was sometimes dangerously absentminded. Tsukishima often lamented Hinata’s carelessness; one day, Hinata had commented that all of this worrying made it almost seem like Tsukishima cared for him. Tsukishima had looked away and muttered that the group needed _someone_ to wave knives around, even if they were two feet tall and always loud enough to wake the dead. As if the dead needed any more awakening.

Despite Tsukishima’s asshole-ish tendencies, Hinata was thankful for his constant drilling of basic survival skills as he remembered to look around the forest for any undead before he tried to scoot to shore. Once he had checked, he sorted out his game plan. While he would love to get off of the log and away from the water as quickly as possible, he had to first consider his next move. The river had swept him downstream, so theoretically he should be able to work his way back upstream and find Yamaguchi.

However, Hinata wanted to be careful before deciding which bank he moved towards. In all the panic of rolling down a hill into the water, Hinata had lost track of which side of the river Yamaguchi was on. There was no guarantee of a way to cross the river further upstream, and the current was too strong to swim across it. The last thing he wanted was to find Yamaguchi only to have to walk all the way back to the log just to get to him. 

Hinata looked to his left: trees. He looked to his right: more trees. Nice. This was great, Hinata was absolutely not panicking while soaking wet and straddling a log. 

Okay, yes, Hinata was in fact panicking while soaking wet and straddling a log. Normally, Hinata wouldn’t be fazed by some alone time and a long walk through the forest, but he was unsure if his ankle could support weight. Even if it could, a slower pace could be deadly considering how low the sun was getting in the sky. 

Figuring he had no time to waste, Hinata made a quick decision; his left ankle was hurt, therefore his left side must be unlucky today. Right side of the river it was.

Hinata started to scoot across the log towards the right bank, keeping a careful eye on the forest around him. It was unlikely that any undead would manage to sneak up on him in broad daylight without the snapping of branches alerting Hinata to its presence, but his already shitty luck that day warranted some extra caution. 

Once he reached the shore, Hinata carefully untied the boot on his left foot and inspected his ankle. It was slightly swollen and purple, although some prodding and wincing showed that it was likely only a mild sprain. Hinata tied his shoe and tried to stand up. There was definitely pain in his ankle, but he should be fine as long as he kept running to a minimum. With another glance around him, Hinata hoped to avoid anything that would make him run.

Hinata kneeled down to drink from the river; the water was cold and there was a current, so hopefully it was harmless. Hinata needed something to wash away the sour taste in his mouth from throwing up earlier.

Finally, Hinata started his trek upriver. He kept the river to his left and watched the forest around him for any movement. Hinata tried to keep a quick pace in order to beat the rapidly sinking sun, but his ankle was starting to throb more and more. Yachi would kill him if he knew how he was treating his injury. Although, if the sun continued to set at this rate there might not be anything left for Yachi to kill. 

Hinata and everyone else who had managed to stay alive until this point knew that going outside unprotected at night was a death wish. The undead hunted at night. Tsukishima had commented before that this might be a kind of adaptive offensive strategy; when this had all started, the geeks seemed to come out equally during the day and night. However, the balance soon shifted to the night. An individual geek wasn’t intelligent enough to strategize, but it seemed that the herds as a whole had adapted to hunting at night. Tsukishima said it was because humans were most vulnerable at night. Hinata didn’t like to think about it.

All this brought Hinata back to his current situation: fucked. Or at least he would be if he didn’t find either Yamaguchi or shelter soon. Objectively, Hinata knew that the forests were safer than almost anywhere else. The leaves and branches made him aware of any movement, and there was a low number of undead since he was relatively far from civilization. Any geeks would have had to wander from whatever town or road they were turned at. 

None of this stopped Hinata from worrying. During the day, the forest felt like a safe haven to him. The forest looks the same as it always has; out here, Hinata can forget about the blood and broken windows that make up the world he now lives in. With the sunset approaching, however, the shadows of the trees started to lengthen and grow more sinister. Every bird call and snapping branch startled Hinata. 

Safer than cities or not, Hinata couldn’t bring himself to feel secure while alone in a forest after dark. If he couldn’t find Yamaguchi soon, Hinata would need to find a tree to sleep in for the night. Geeks couldn’t climb without a pile up, so Hinata should be relatively safe. 

The sun started to dip below the horizon, and the trees above made the ground below naturally shaded. With visibility decreasing, Hinata started to look around for a tree that had enough low branches for him to start his climb. He hoped that Yamaguchi went home for the night instead of searching for him, Hinata didn’t want anyone to risk their own--

_Crack!_

Hinata whirled around. A geek stood just a few yards away from him. Hinata’s eyes widened and he slid his knives free from his belt. A broken branch had been the only thing alerting Hinata to its presence.

In a split-second, Hinata weighed his options. Other than a few Runners (a generous description of what was really faster-than-average walking, in Hinata’s opinion), geeks moved at a slow walk. In any other situation, Hinata would either kill the ghoul or walk away from it, but his ankle limited his options. 

Not trusting himself in combat at the moment, Hinata decided to walk away as fast as his ankle would allow and keep looking out for a suitable tree. Unfortunately, Hinata’s busted ankle and the geek’s own slow pace led to a pathetic chase. Hinata glanced back. The undead looked like it had turned a while ago and was far along in its decomposition. Hinata couldn’t be sure, but he thinks it used to be a woman. Its skin hung off, rotting away in places. A large bloodstain spread across its right side and Hinata wasn’t sure if the blood belonged to the ghoul or not. The geek’s left ankle was broken in a gruesome parody of Hinata’s own injury; Hinata could see bone poking through discolored skin as its foot dragged along the ground. It was a miracle that Hinata hadn’t heard or smelled the thing before it managed to get so close to him.

Despite Hinata’s best efforts, the pain in his ankle grew increasingly worse. His already slow pace became a crawl, and another look back showed that the ghoul was starting to gain on him. Hinata desperately glanced around him and then narrowed his eyes on a nearby tree. _There_. That had to be good enough.

Hinata made a beeline to the tree. The branches started low on this tree, and Hinata could see a clear path up that would get him a good twenty feet above the ground. He reached the base of the tree and started to climb. As soon as he tried to use his left foot, however, he felt his ankle give out. Hinata grabbed desperately at a branch to keep himself upright. He could hear the ghoul’s shuffling growing nearer.

In one last attempt at escape, Hinata bent as low as he could on his right leg. He kept his grip on the branch tight as he jumped off of one foot and pulled himself up to sit on the lowest branch of the tree.

Hinata had just a moment to sit before he felt something wrap around his ankle. Hinata flinched and whipped out one of his knives as the thing started to pull. Hinata held on tight to the branch and tried to kick the geek off of him, but its grip was like iron.

Hinata felt its nails start to dig into his skin and looked down to see the ghoul with its mouth gaping open, leaning forward to try to bite him. No amount of kicking could detach its grip on his ankle. Hinata looked down again. If the ghoul wanted him on the ground, who was Hinata to deny its request?

Hinata let go of the branch and fell feet first, knocking the ghoul down with him. When Hinata landed he heard a crunch and felt his boot step on something worryingly squishy. He looked down to see that his momentum had sent his foot straight through the geek’s decaying ribcage. A terrible smell rose in the air and Hinata saw too-dark blood and what he wanted to call organ soup oozing out from around his boot. 

Hinata gagged and almost threw up for the second time that day, but his own panic stopped him. The ghoul was still writhing around on the ground -- its brain must be intact. Hinata kept on pinning the creature with his foot as he leaned forward, knives in hand. He avoided grabbing arms and stabbed one of his blades precisely through its eye socket. Blood a few shades too dark to be human sprayed from the wound, and Hinata felt some drops land on his face. The ghoul stopped moving.

Hinata stood still for a long moment, breathing heavily. His left ankle was in agony after his rough landing, his right foot was _inside_ one of the undead, he was covered in blood, and the sun would be down in what looked like only a few minutes. This was fucking fantastic.

The only consolation was that Hinata now had a tree he knew he could climb. After taking stock of the situation Hinata started to move. Gut covered shoe or not, Hinata needed to get up that tree before another geek decided to join the party.

Hinata took a deep breath and then ripped his foot out of the undead’s torso. Hinata heard a horrifying squelching noise and shut his eyes as another wave of smell rose from the corpse. Biting down bile, Hinata shook the gore off of his foot as well as he could and restarted his climb.

Once again, Hinata used only his right foot to launch himself onto the first branch of the tree. He started his slow ascent, using his arms and right leg to carefully pull himself up. Eventually, Hinata reached a comfortable height.

From his perch, Hinata took another look at his surroundings. He was fairly confident that he would be safe in the tree, but was more concerned about becoming trapped up there. If any ghouls noticed him and crowded around the base of the tree, escaping intact in the morning seemed unlikely.

The undead hunted primarily through their sense of smell and hearing, rather than eyesight. This trait is what allowed them an easy transition to hunting at night. A glance down showed the corpse lying near the base of the tree, blood and entrails creating a gruesome scene. Despite how disgusting the image was, Hinata was almost grateful for the geek’s attack. Now his own scent should be covered by the smell of decay coming from the corpse.

Exhaustion began to overtake Hinata as he prepared to sleep. He kept his boots and jacket on, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Hinata unsheathed his knives and stabbed them into a nearby branch for safekeeping. He hated to treat his blades so badly, but he needed access to his belt to prevent him from falling out of the tree in the middle of the night. Hinata then lifted his hips and undid his belt. He strapped himself to the branch he was laying on, thankful that the slightly oversized belt was big enough to wrap around his waist and the branch. Once Hinata was tightly strapped in, he felt his eyelids begin to droop. 

The weather never got too cold in this region, but the early spring weather was still cool enough to bite, especially with Hinata’s still soggy clothing. Hinata’s shivering and the constant worry that had been thrumming in his chest ever since he rolled down the hill fought to keep him awake, even with fatigue weighing him down. 

The sun had now completely set, and Hinata’s eyelids shuttered open and shut as he took in the moonlight shining through the canopy above. He could hear nothing but the nearby river and the breeze gently swaying the trees. Exhaustion finally won out; Hinata fell asleep with moonlight on his face and the image of a deep blue butterfly on his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I've never written any fanfiction before so this is really new to me. Honestly, I'm a little astounded that the first thing I write is a Haikyuu!! zombie apocalypse fic. What the fuck. AND I want to make it pretty chunky. I guess I should go for it? I have the sweet sweet comfort of anonymity to guide me. Wish me luck.
> 
> OH, also! This fic is heavily inspired by irusu_u3's fic "The Streets of Tokyo", so go check that out if you're into seeing volleyball-playing anime characters struggle to survive in a city ravaged by zombies and rival gangs (I know I am). I also take a lot of cues from pretty much every piece of zombie-related media I've ever consumed, so if you see similarities it's definitely because of that. A big thank you to... I don't know, zombie media creators. You're doing god's work. Special thanks to the book World War Z and the show The Walking Dead (which I've only seen a few episodes of).
> 
> Thank you, tune in next time to see Hinata & friends face off against undead hordes.
> 
> Okay actually sorry to keep talking but I'm a fucking whore for zombie apocalypse stories even though I find the premise inherently funny in fanfictions. Like, oh, you know that cheery orange haired kid that loves to play volleyball? Let's read about him fucking stabbing somebody. Let's see him battle the forces of evil. The dude just wants to play volleyball. I'm losing my fucking mind dear god.  
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Hinata Finds Some Soup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long night in a tree, Hinata leaves the river in pursuit of a mysterious plume of smoke. Berries are eaten, gas stations are blown up, and Hinata meets a dark haired boy.

Another scream pierced through the night air. Hinata, recently turned ten and no taller for it, runs back from a bucket of lukewarm water to lay a wet rag against his mother’s forehead. Hinata’s mother had been in labor for hours now and Hinata was almost as sweaty as her. His mother’s skin was pale and clammy, her vibrant red hair matted and a few shades darker than normal from the sweat soaking it.

Hinata ran back to the window and cast his nervous gaze around the neighborhood outside. Miraculously, his mother’s screams hadn’t yet attracted a herd to the house they were staying in, but he still kept a careful eye out for the undead. He was young, but had experienced far too many close calls in his short life.

Hinata returned to his mother’s side and grabbed her hand. The two made eye contact. His mother’s eyes were filled with pain and desperation. She tightened her grip on Hinata’s hand and squeezed her eyes shut as she was rocked by another contraction. 

After what felt like an eternity, Hinata heard his mother’s cries joined by that of an infant. His mother’s sobs turned joyful. Between gasping breaths she guided Hinata on how to cut the cord leading to the baby’s stomach. Hinata scrunched up his nose and tried not to look; the baby was wet and wrinkly and he thought the cord looked too much like a worm. There was also _a lot_ of blood on the bed. Hinata didn’t know much about babies, but he didn’t think that was good. 

Weird worm tube aside, Hinata thought the wriggling baby in his arms was pretty cute, in a small goblin kind of way. He could see small tufts of the same red hair he and his mother shared. He carefully lifted the baby in his arms - it seemed so small - and carried it up to his mother’s waiting arms.

His mother was still panting and pale, but an expression of pure joy graced her face as she looked down at the bundle in her arms. Hinata didn’t think he’d ever seen anything prettier in his whole life. His mother looked up at Hinata with shining eyes.

“She looks like a Natsu, don’t you think?”

He didn’t think the baby looked like much of anything, but he nodded along anyway. A _sister_. He had been hoping for another boy to play with, but he guessed a sister would do. Hinata was still contemplating the games he’d be able to play with his new sibling when he saw his mother wince. She looked even paler than before, and he saw that the blood stain was spreading further across the blanket. Panic started to creep in. 

“Mom, are you alright? What should I do?” Hinata desperately asked as he reached out to hold his mother’s hand again.

Hinata’s mother lightly squeezed his hand.

“I’ll be fine, baby. Could you hold Natsu for me?”

His mother passed Natsu into her brother’s arms. Hinata had started to shake and was a little worried about dropping the newborn. Hinata’s mother closed her eyes for a moment. Hinata kept his gaze trained on her face, waiting for the confirmation that she would be okay, that everything would be okay.

It never came.

Instead, his mother opened her eyes. She looked at her son, determination on her face. Hinata couldn’t have looked away if he tried.

“Shouyou, you need to listen to me. Look after Natsu, okay?”

Her breaths grew shallower. 

“I need you two to be safe. Can you promise me, Shouyou?”

“Mom! Mom, I...I don’t know wh--” Hinata could feel tears streaming down his face and he choked on a sob.

“Please, Shouyou, honey. You need to promise me.”

Hinata clutched Natsu closer to his chest. 

“I- I promise.”

His mother closed her eyes as Natsu began to wail.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata woke to morning sunlight streaming through the leaves above him; it looked like the sun had just finished rising. He stretched his arms above his head and felt soreness from sleeping in a tree all night. Carefully, he undid the belt strapping him in the tree and refastened it around his waist, making sure to tuck his knives back into their sheaths. 

A quick evaluation of his ankle showed that it was still swollen and tender. Hinata tried to remember what Yachi had told him about sprains. Something about rice, maybe? Well, unless he found wild rice sometime soon, that wouldn’t be an option. He tried wiggling his ankle around a bit. There was some pain, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday.

Hinata thought about the time that Tanaka had sprained his ankle while practicing with his sword. Yachi had wrapped it up and insisted that Tanaka stay off it for a few days. Staying still wasn’t an option for Hinata, but he could see about wrapping his ankle. Unfortunately, Yamaguchi had been carrying their bag with emergency supplies.

After a few too many close calls, Hinata’s group had created a rule that they had to travel in pairs if they were any further than shouting distance away from their base. Each pair had to have at least one weapon and one bag of emergency supplies. They had been lucky enough to have never had a pair be separated from each other until yesterday, so it seemed a waste to have both members of the pair carry supplies. They’d probably have to amend that rule if Hinata ever managed to make it back home.

Without the first aid kit included in Yamaguchi’s bag of supplies, he would have to improvise. He untied the boot on his right foot and then took off his sock. Hinata doubled up the socks on his left foot and gave it another wiggle. There was still pain, but it felt a little more supported. He hated to go barefoot while wearing his boots, but if he had to suffer through a few blisters on his right foot so that he could walk better, he would.

Hinata tied both boots tightly and began his slow climb down. At the bottom of the tree, the corpse of the ghoul he had fought yesterday still lay. It smelled even worse than it had before, and a swarm of flies was buzzing around it. Hinata kneeled beside the corpse. He plugged his nose with one hand and reached the other down inside the hole he had kicked in the geek’s sternum. It felt wet and slimy, not unlike the time he and Tsukishima (okay, mostly Hinata) had tried to catch frogs for dinner. Once his hand was covered with blood and other liquids he tried not to think about, he smeared it across his pants and jacket. Hinata fought down the vomit rising in his throat.

“Fuck, that’s gross.”

As disgusting as it was, Hinata knew that the undead’s blood would help disguise his own scent as he traveled. After yesterday’s encounter, he wanted to limit the risk of running into other ghouls and trying to fight or escape with an injured ankle.

Hinata looked around for any potential threats. There were no ghouls around, but there were strange marks in the dirt by a nearby tree. He walked over to inspect the marks. They looked like footprints, and the way the footsteps dragged let him know that one of the undead must have passed by while he was sleeping. Hinata was glad that it didn’t notice him, but the idea of a ghoul passing so close to him while he was completely defenseless…

He shook his head. There was no point in thinking about it too much, he’d just have to make sure to stay alert while he continued through the forest. 

Hinata made his way back to the river. He still didn’t know how far he had traveled when he almost drowned yesterday, so he decided to keep following the river in the hopes that he would see something familiar. He kneeled down to take a drink and wash the blood off of his face and hands.

To his right, saw a familiar cluster of leaves. Hinata couldn’t help but smile; these were the same berries he had been picking the day before with Yamaguchi. He ate as many as he could and then shoved a few more handfuls into the pockets of his jacket to snack on later. With juice on his hands and pockets full of berries, Hinata continued traveling upstream. Hinata walked with a spring in his step, or at least as springy as his ankle would let him be. It was difficult to feel down after eating a good breakfast in the morning air. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata was starting to feel pretty down. He had been walking for hours, and his ankle was throbbing again. The sun was hard to see through the trees, but Hinata estimated that it was a little past noon. He had run out of berries a while ago, and all of the walking he was doing made him hungry. Even if Hinata was completely off on his guess of how far he had traveled while underwater, he felt like he should have long ago passed the area where he was separated from Yamaguchi. If Hinata continued walking upstream, he could unintentionally be heading even further away from where he wanted to be. His stomach growled and he frowned. At this rate, he’d become even more lost. And hungry. 

After a few minutes, Hinata came across another tree with low hanging branches. He decided to climb the tree to see if the higher vantage point gave him a better idea of where he was. His ankle made for slow going, but eventually he reached a point where he could see above most of the treeline. From his perch, he took in the view for a moment. The forest spread for miles in every direction. In the distance, Hinata could see the city’s skyline cutting above the trees. Much closer, a plume of smoke rose into the sky.

Hinata directed his attention to the smoke. Unless there was a wildfire, smoke meant there must be either civilization or people in that direction. The plume looked too localized to be a wildfire, so Hinata decided that the smoke must belong to somebody. Hopefully somebody he knew.

Hinata weighed his options. He was fairly certain that the smoke wasn’t from his own home base, but he couldn’t be sure. As lost as he was, it was possible that he wouldn’t recognize his home from a distance. Maybe his group had lit a fire to serve as a beacon for him. Home base or not, staying near the river seemed like a lost cause. Though the water supply was nice, it was unlikely that he would come across a section of forest he recognized if he continued to follow the river. In the best case scenario, the smoke led him home, although Hinata would be happy if it led him to any kind of civilization. Once he reached a road, Hinata thought he could use the road signs to navigate back to familiar territory.

Mind made up, Hinata started to climb down the tree. He was about halfway down when he felt the branch he was standing on snap. Hinata had a split second to tighten his grip on the branch he was hanging onto as the force of his fall yanked on his shoulders. He hung from the tree while the broken limb smashed into a few other branches before hitting the ground. A panicked glance down showed that he was about thirty feet off the ground. A fall from this height probably wouldn’t kill him, but Hinata knew that broken bones would be just as much of a death sentence.

Hinata kicked his feet around the tree, looking for another branch to stand on. To his horror, his hands slipped slightly down the branch he was holding. His arms were starting to shake. Finally, Hinata felt his foot connect with a branch. He shifted his weight onto the branch, hoping that this one wouldn’t break. Hinata took a moment to catch his breath. Tremors ran through his body. A look at his hands showed that they had been scraped raw by bark when he had slipped down the branch. He was just glad he didn’t have any splinters. And that he wasn’t dead, that was nice as well. 

Hinata was much more careful as he climbed down the rest of the tree. There had been about a thousand too many close calls in the past twenty-four hours. He looked around him as he reached the bottom of the tree; the last thing he needed was for the noise of the falling branch to attract the undead.

Once the coast was clear, Hinata set off towards the smoke. He periodically climbed a tree to make sure he was heading in the right direction, although this time he was especially picky about which branches he chose to stand on. 

Eventually, the trees around him started to thin out. Hinata was now positive that the smoke wasn’t coming from his home base -- he would have recognized the area around him if it was. Regardless, Hinata had come this far and still needed to find some kind of road if he ever wanted to get home. 

Through the thinning treeline, Hinata finally spotted a building. He had reached civilization. Or at least, what was left of it.

The little town he entered had clearly been ravaged and abandoned long ago. Most of the windows were broken, and ivy was starting to crawl across the streets and up the sides of buildings. Hinata could see a few rust colored stains on the cracked pavement; he tried not to think about what could have left them.

Despite the town’s sinister appearance, it was suspiciously quiet. Hinata had explored towns like this before with his friends, and even a town as small and out of the way as this one should still have a few geeks walking around. Hinata pulled out his knives and stayed on guard as he worked his way through the abandoned streets. He could now clearly see the plume of smoke rising from the other side of town. 

After a few minutes, Hinata heard a dragging sound coming from an alley to his right. Ah, there was the undead. Hinata turned towards the noise and was dismayed to see that it was a runner. There was no way he’d be able to outwalk the ghoul with his injured ankle, so he raised his knives and prepared for a fight. As the runner approached at a faster than normal but still relatively slow pace, he could more clearly see that the ghoul was...on fire? Its clothes and skin were charred, and thin tendrils of smoke rose from its burning flesh.

Hinata tried to clear his head. On fire or not, he still needed to kill this geek. He kept his knives raised and bent his knees slightly as the ghoul approached. Once Hinata was almost within the range of the ghoul’s grabbing arms, he quickly stepped to the side. The ghoul rushed past him, and he whirled around to stab the back of its head. The ghoul fell to the ground, its flesh still burning as dark blood leaked across the ground. He contemplated the corpse laying in front of him; whatever had caused the plume of smoke Hinata was following must have set the geek on fire. 

Hinata continued towards the smoke, keeping an eye out for more geeks. He turned a corner and finally reached the source of the smoke: a gas station. Or, more accurately, the ruins of a gas station. The walls and ceiling had collapsed, and the charred building was still burning. Hinata walked closer and was greeted with the overwhelming stench of decay, gasoline, and burning flesh. He gagged and pulled the collar of his shirt up to cover his mouth and nose before stepping closer. He started to hear shuffling and groans that had to have come from the undead. After all these years, the sound was unmistakable. Hinata clutched his knife in the hand that wasn’t holding his collar as he approached the ruins of the building. 

He could see a hand reaching from a pile of debris, opening and closing around nothing. There were more groans now -- it sounded like dozens of geeks. Assorted charred limbs poked out from the ruins, some still moving and all of them clearly belonging to the undead. Hinata was astonished. What had _happened_ here? It looked like an entire hoard had been trapped in the burning building.

In the corner of his eye, Hinata saw a flash of red. The drops of blood covering the ground were old enough to be slightly dried and darker than normal, but they were unmistakably human. His already tense body wound up even further. The building stuffed full of burning geeks was unsettling, but at least it was a known entity. Other people were a wild card. Despite his worries, he started to follow the trail of blood the droplets had left. The sun was about to set and Hinata was hesitant to spend another night tied to a tree. He also wasn’t partial to having his throat slit in the middle of the night by this mystery person, so he decided that a confrontation was the best option. Besides, if the blood was any indication, the mystery person must be injured. Could Hinata even call himself a zombie apocalypse survivor and badass extraordinaire if he couldn’t face off against a potentially hostile mystery person? The blood was starting to look a little more fresh. Hinata tried to ignore the fact that he was also injured. 

Not far from the gas station, the trail veered into a building. Hinata squinted at the faded letters above the door; it looked like it had been a grocery store. The glass in the front doors had long ago been shattered. He stepped through the door, careful to avoid the shards of glass littering the floor. The blood trail wound towards the right of the store and disappeared into an aisle. Hinata took a moment to listen for another person. Silence. He was starting to get a little worried. How much blood could someone lose before they were in real danger? He crept towards the aisle the trail had led into, knives still out from his encounter with the runner earlier.

Once he reached the aisle, Hinata again stopped to listen for a moment. There was a long moment of silence, and then he heard a tiny shuffle. There they were. He took a deep breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible, and then launched himself around the corner of the aisle. 

Only to come face to face with a cold stare and a loaded bow.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata froze. There was a boy standing on the other side of the aisle. His arm was drawn back and he looked poised to shoot Hinata with an arrow at any moment. Internally, Hinata was kicking himself. The other boy must have heard him long before he’d reached the aisle and had been lying in wait. Hinata kept his knives up and looked the boy over. He was tall, definitely taller than Hinata (If Tsukishima was there, he would have said that being taller than Hinata wasn’t much of an accomplishment. He wished Tsukishima was there). The other boy had dark hair, and a glance down showed a blood stain spreading along his side. 

The boy wrinkled his nose. “You smell awful.”

Hinata’s mouth fell open. Here he was, frightened for his life in the middle of a grocery aisle, and the boy aiming a weapon at him thought he should comment on how he smelled? Hinata felt indignation rise in him.

“It’s on purpose!”

The other boy’s eyes narrowed.

“Somehow that doesn’t make it better.”

The bow remained trained on him. Hinata knew he wouldn't be fast enough to throw one of his knives before the boy let loose an arrow. Unless the other boy had terrible aim, there was no way he could miss from this close. The steely look on the boy’s face made Hinata doubt that he would tolerate any escape attempts. Out of other options, Hinata kept eye contact as he slowly crouched down and set his knives on the floor. He stood back up and raised his empty hands in the air. The other boy kept his bow aimed at him, but Hinata could see his grip relax.

Hinata was about to open his mouth and try to negotiate when the other boy flinched. His eyes flickered back down to the wound on the boy’s side. It wasn’t the worst he’d seen, but he knew any kind of untreated wound could be deadly. Hands still raised in the air, Hinata took a hesitant step forward. The boy tensed again, before grimacing and falling onto his knees. The arm holding the bow fell to the boy’s side. Despite his initial terror, Hinata couldn’t help but feel concerned. The other boy looked to be about the same age as him, and seeing other (non-dead) people outside of his group had become increasingly rare as the years passed by. It seemed like a waste of life to not help the boy. 

Hinata took a couple more slow steps forward. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” the boy snapped.

The boy swayed to the side. The blood stain was still growing larger. Hinata felt another spike of concern. 

“Really? Because you look the opposite of fine.”

He looked around the aisle they were in; the signs indicated that there were supposed to be medical supplies in this aisle, but the shelves were almost barren. The other boy must have been looking for supplies to treat his wound. 

Hinata was still poking around the shelves when he heard a muffled thump. He whirled around to face the other boy, prepared for a fight, only to see the boy slumped on the ground, passed out. Hinata didn’t feel any less tense. He rushed to the boy’s side and used his hand to put pressure on the wound. Blood started to trickle through his fingers and he huffed in frustration. He pulled off his jacket and pressed it against the wound. Hinata was worried about the blood loss, but he was pretty sure the other boy would be okay if he found some proper bandages. Maybe. Hopefully. The biggest concern was infection, but Hinata was putting that out of his mind right now. He needed to focus, and he definitely needed to find some medical supplies.

Hinata tied his jacket around the torso of the other boy in an attempt to keep pressure on the wound even when he wasn’t there. He stood up and looked down for a moment at his blood covered hands.

_\--a blood stain spreading across his mother’s sheets, Natsu’s cries mixing with his own panicked breaths--_

Hinata blinked rapidly and wiped his hands on his jeans. Now was not the time to lose focus. 

He did another quick scan of the shelves, but they held nothing useful other than a few cans of what was likely food. Hinata jogged to the end of the aisle. He cursed his shitty ankle for slowing him down. He went down every aisle, but there were no medical supplies or even clothes he could use as bandages. Hinata had reached the end of all of the aisles and was starting to lose hope when he caught sight of an unassuming door to his right. He could see a faded “Employees Only” sign. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Hinata ducked inside the room. It was small and dusty, with a miraculously intact window providing the only light. There was a small kitchen area, a dirty and torn up coach, and a single table and chair. One wall held faded pictures of smiling employees, all of them wearing collared shirts in a spectacularly ugly shade of yellow. Hinata tried not to look at them.

He started rummaging through the cabinets. It looked like, somehow, this small room had been left mostly untouched by looters. The cabinets held a few dusty mugs, old magazines, and a coffee maker that looked like it should have been put out of its misery long before the apocalypse had even happened. Nestled behind the coffee maker, Hinata found a tin of instant coffee. Hinata’s eyes practically bugged out of his head as he looked at his discovery; coffee was rare, their group tended to save it for special occasions. He tucked the tin into his pocket and kept looking. In the very last cabinet, he found a first aid kit. Huh. Maybe the universe didn’t hate him.

Hinata snatched up the kit and hurried back out to where the boy was laying. He hadn’t moved since Hinata had left. Hinata fell to his knees to the boy’s side and opened up the first aid kit. The kit was surprisingly well-stocked. He was starting to feel a little more hopeful about the situation. He set the kit to the side and focused back on the boy, still unconscious on the ground. He carefully untied his jacket and pulled up the boy’s blood-stained shirt. Hinata was relieved to see that the wound wasn’t a bite from one of the undead, but he still grimaced when he saw the wound. The cut didn’t look too deep, but it was long enough that it probably needed stitches. Damn. Hinata had only had to suture someone once before, and it was under Yachi’s careful supervision. She had insisted that one day he might be on his own in an emergency situation, so she had tried to beat some medical knowledge into his head. Hinata decided that Yachi would be getting extra coffee if he ever managed to get home. 

Hinata rummaged through the first aid kit and was relieved to see a small suture kit. He pulled on the blue gloves the kit provided and used the last of his river water to wash out the wound, hoping sincerely that the river wasn’t full of some kind of flesh-eating bacteria. Wound now relatively clean, Hinata opened up the suture kit and got to work. Luckily, it seemed that his suturing lessons had stuck much better than Yachi’s advice about sprained ankles.

The site was gruesome, but Hinata found the slow and complicated process sort of soothing. He was grateful that the other boy was still unconscious. Eventually, Hinata sat back and wiped his brow. The stitches were messy and uneven but should do the trick. As long as the wound didn’t become infected, Hinata thought the boy should be fine. He grabbed the bandages from the kit and wrapped up the wound. After a moment’s hesitation, Hinata balled up his bloody jacket and tucked it underneath the other boy’s head. He hoped the boy didn’t mind how dirty his makeshift pillow was.

Hinata looked up and was surprised to see that the grocery store was much darker than it had been before he started. He was exhausted, sweaty, and absolutely starving. Their position in the aisle was much more exposed than Hinata would prefer, but he was hopeful that most of the geeks in the town were stuck in the gas station. Ideally, they could stay in the Employee’s Only room for the night, but Hinata wasn’t confident that he could drag the other boy into the room considering Hinata’s busted ankle and the exhaustion that was starting to overcome him. Running around the forest all day and then stitching up a stranger was apparently enough to knock Hinata out, especially since he hadn’t eaten since he ran out of berries around midday. 

He pulled himself to his feet and grabbed the two cans he had found earlier. The labels were decaying, but Hinata was pretty sure the cans contained soup. Eating the mystery soup was a risk; the food had long ago passed its expiration date, but a quick inspection showed that the cans were still in good condition. He used an antiseptic wipe from the first aid kit to clean one of his knives and poked it through a lid. The can hissed gently, and Hinata decided that he’d go ahead and eat the food. He hadn’t had real food in almost two days, so he needed to eat the sketchy canned soup if he wanted to have enough energy to make it home. 

Hinata used his knife to pry off the lid completely. He took a seat on the ground next to the boy’s still unconscious body and started to sip the lukewarm soup. It was possibly chicken and rice, but Hinata wasn’t sure. The taste had long ago faded. He was about halfway through the can when the other boy shuffled on the floor. The boy let out a soft sigh as his eyes cracked open. He looked confused for a moment, until his face suddenly cleared and turned his head. His gaze landed on Hinata, who was clutching his half-full can of mystery soup to his chest.

The boy’s eyes narrowed. 

Hinata was in for a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I posted this a little later than I'd have liked. My classes started again last week which means I'm busier. On the bright side, if anybody needs to know about Cubism, I've got you covered. I've got a good chunk of the next chapter written already, so hopefully that'll be up soon! There will be a lot more interactions between Hinata and Kageyama, so I guess look forward to that. 
> 
> A little info: this story is set in the American south, specifically in the Atlanta area (in Georgia). This isn't meant to be intentionally copying the Walking Dead, I just A) have lived in Atlanta and know the area relatively well, B) don't know nearly enough about Japan to feel comfortable setting a story there, and C) think it's a cool place to set an apocalypse. Sue me.
> 
> I know that canned food doesn't last forever, but it can last a few years beyond the printed expiration date, albeit with losses to its flavor and nutritional value. Some sources said that canned food, if stored in proper conditions, can last indefinitely. Regardless, I want Hinata to eat mystery soup, therefore he will be eating mystery soup. 
> 
> Also, I really don't know much about first aid/suturing, so if you do know about it, I apologize for any mistakes I made. Google can only do so much. If you don't know anything about first aid, please assume that I'm a genius and have never made a mistake. 
> 
> See you later, and happy January! If it's not January when you're reading this then I apologize. Maybe you should have considered reading this in January before putting us both in this awkward position.


	3. Hinata Makes a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata meets Kageyama officially, and the two strike up a deal.

Hinata just wanted to sleep. He wanted to lay down in his old bed, the one he had before all of this had started, with cartoon caterpillars printed on the sheets. When he couldn’t sleep, he had liked to name as many caterpillars as he could, lit only by the soft, warm glow of his nightlight. Hinata knew that ten was probably too old for a nightlight, but he wanted one again. He wanted _one night_ where he didn’t wake up in the middle of the night to Natsu’s cries. Every single time, he woke up in a panic. 

Hinata and Natsu had been on their own for a few weeks, as far as he could tell. He followed the caretaking instructions their mother had given him as carefully as he could, but he was constantly scared that he was doing something wrong. Hinata was too pale and too small, and the bags under his eyes were frighteningly dark for a child. But he was a big kid, and he had a sister to look after, so he tried to act brave. He wasn’t sure how smart babies were and didn’t want to risk Natsu thinking he was a chicken.

One morning, Hinata knelt by a stream and filled his cooking pot with fresh water. Before her-- before she was gone, Hinata’s mother had taught him all kinds of survival skills. She taught him how to boil water so that it wouldn’t make him sick, how to start a fire, how to make Natsu milk to drink using formula. The baby stuff was the hardest to remember. Hinata and his mother had survived for years in the wild, but he only had a few months to learn how to take care of a baby.

He set the pot on the fire he had created earlier and sat criss-cross on the ground while he waited for it to boil. He carefully pulled his Dora the Explorer backpack off and placed it on his lap. Natsu’s little head poked out from the top of the bag where she was zipped into the biggest pocket. Hinata wasn’t totally sure that it was safe to carry a baby in his backpack, but he made sure that her head remained free and tucked blankets around her so that she didn’t jostle around too much. He always double-checked to make sure that her head was supported. Before Natsu, Hinata hadn’t known that babies’ heads were so… floppy. Either way, it was too difficult to carry her in his arms all day, especially when he had to run from the undead. He needed to use the backpack.

Natsu gave him a gummy smile, and Hinata smiled back. She got cuter every day. He swore that Natsu doubled in size every time he looked at her; she certainly felt heavy when he carried her as they trekked through the woods. The two of them lived in a house down the road from the one they had stayed in when his mother was giving birth. He didn’t like to leave the house too often, but he had to make frequent trips for water and food.

The water in his pot started bubbling, and Hinata pulled it off the fire. He had to let the water cool before he made it into formula. Hinata opened a pocket of his backpack and grabbed the bottle and a packet of formula; there were less and less packets every day. His mother had stockpiled as much formula as she could, but Hinata could tell it would only last a few months. Hinata’s mom had said that the baby couldn’t eat real-people food until she was half a year old. Personally, Hinata thought that he’d be sick of milk if it was all he could eat for six months, but he guessed that babies didn’t mind it. While the water cooled, Hinata dug out an apple from his bag and started to eat it. His enthusiastic crunching almost made him miss the sound of voices coming from behind him. 

Hinata shot to his feet and (gently) swung his backpack onto his back again, just in time to see a small group of people walk into the clearing Hinata and Natsu were in. The group stopped abruptly, a couple of them pulling out assorted weapons. Hinata did a quick count; there were five of them. Most of them looked like teenagers, but there was one blonde boy who couldn’t be much older than Hinata. 

Hinata wrapped his hands tightly around the straps of his backpack, prepared to run at any moment. Once the group saw that the only threat was a single overtired child, however, they let their guard down. Weapons were lowered, and Hinata saw a silver haired boy take a step forward. Hinata tensed. The boy was quick to throw his hands up. 

“Wait, don’t run!”

Hinata remained in place, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot. Natsu let out a whine, and he prayed that she would remain quiet.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, but you can call me Suga! Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you.”

The other members of the group seemed to take this as a cue, and they too stepped closer. A dark haired boy introduced himself as Daichi, and a scary looking boy said his name was Asahi. The pretty girl was named Kiyoko, and the boy that looked about Hinata’s age was named Tsukishima. Hinata gave a shaky nod in response to the introductions. He was still nervous, but the strangers had been nothing but kind so far. Maybe he didn’t have to be alone anymore. 

Natsu chose that moment to start crying. Hinata panicked a bit; he hadn’t wanted to let them know he had a baby with him, but it seemed like he had no choice. He set his backpack on the ground and unzipped Natsu’s pocket. She was still wrapped in a blanket and looked like nothing more than a bundle of cloth. Hinata lifted her into his arms and started to rock her. She quieted.

Suga looked down at the bundle in Hinata’s arms. 

“Is that a _baby_?!”

“Um...no?” Hinata timidly responded.

Suga’s eyes widened. “Oh my god. Daichi, he has a fucking baby.”

Asahi gasped. “Suga! The kid’s like, six, you can’t swear in front of him.”

“Hey! I’m ten!”

Suga pointed at Hinata wildly. “Yeah, Asahi, he’s ten!

Hinata saw Daichi pinch the bridge of his nose.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


Hinata was starting to wonder if patching up the wounds on an intimidating stranger with a weapon was the best idea. 

When the other boy woke up, he had looked down at his torso and took in the bandages, then looked back up with anger in his eyes. Hinata was struck by mortal terror for a moment before trying to maintain some control on the situation. He set his soup down beside him.

“Welcome back! I bandaged up your wound for you,” Hinata greeted him.

The boy dragged himself up to a sitting position and propped himself against a shelf. Hinata knew that had to have hurt, and found himself simultaneously impressed and exasperated. 

The other boy’s face scrunched up. “I told you, I don’t want your help!”

Hinata was surprised by how suddenly the boy had transitioned from lying unconscious on the floor to yelling. Regardless, he wasn’t about to let some strange bastard boy scold him for _saving his life_. 

“Oh, so you wanted to bleed out on the floor of a grocery store?” Hinata asked, eyebrows raised, “Is that what you were going for?

“No!”

“Then stop yelling at me! I stitched you up, there’s nothing you can do about it. Now, what’s your name?”

“What?”

“Your name! I already have your blood all over me, so I think introducing ourselves is a good next step.”

The anger on the other boys face faded to something closer to confusion. For a moment, he seemed to debate whether or not he should give up his name. 

“It’s Kageyama.”

“Is that all?”

“Kageyama Tobio.”

Hinata grinned. “I’m Hinata Shouyou, nice to meet you! I’d shake your hand, but, you know, there’s the whole blood thing.”

The boy -- Kageyama -- still looked confused.

“...Right.”

Hinata stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans. He walked over to a shelf and grabbed the other can of mystery soup; his own was still sitting unfinished on the ground. Hinata sat back down and pried the lid off with his knife. He handed the open can over to Kageyama. 

“You should probably eat. My friend says that staying hydrated and well fed is the best first step to healing all wounds.”

Kageyama looked slightly suspicious of the can in his hands, but his hunger apparently won him over. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, sipping on their respective soup cans. The store was almost completely dark; Hinata could see only Kageyama’s silhouette and the glints of light from the aluminum soup cans. Eventually, Kageyama set down his can. “You were limping.”

Hinata wiped a bit of soup off of his chin and squinted at Kageyama. 

“Huh?”

“When you went to get the food, you were walking with a limp. Are you injured?”

Hinata was surprised that he had noticed. He nodded. “Yeah, but it’s nothing bad. I sprained my ankle yesterday.” 

Kageyama dragged the first aid kit to him and started rummaging through it. 

“What are you doing?” Hinata asked.

“I’m gonna wrap your ankle.”

“ _Huh_?”

“Why are you so surprised? You fixed up my wound, I’ll fix up yours. Then we’ll be even.”

Hinata hesitated for a moment. “I guess that makes sense.”

Kageyama must have taken this as a yes, because he reached out to pull Hinata’s foot towards him. Hinata adjusted himself so that his ankle rested across one of Kageyama’s legs.

Hinata’s brows furrowed. “You really, _really_ , don’t have to do this.”

Kageyama’s scowl stayed stuck to his face as he started to grab the leftover bandages from the first aid kit. It’s not that Hinata was opposed to having a properly wrapped ankle, and he’s generally enthusiastic about physical touch, but Kageyama was really...frowny. Grumpy, even. Prepared to shoot Hinata with an arrow at a moment's notice. Hinata felt like his caution was justified. 

Kageyama reached to untie his boot, but Hinata jerked his foot back. His ankle jostled and he flinched at the sudden pain. Hinata hadn’t thought Kageyama’s frown could deepen any further, but he was wrong. 

“Calm the fuck down, I’m just trying to fix your ankle,” Kageyama huffed. 

“I know that! I’m sorry if I’m a little nervous about waving my foot around in front of an unknown stranger armed with really pointy arrows!”

“If I wanted to shoot you I would have done it already.”

“Did you mean that to sound non-threatening? Because it definitely didn’t.” Hinata was starting to feel slightly hysterical. He had been awake for far too long.

Kageyama didn’t respond, instead reaching once again for Hinata’s boot. This time, Hinata gritted his teeth and kept his leg still as he took the shoe off. Hinata peeled off the two socks on his foot and Kageyama started wrapping the bandages around his ankle. He was surprisingly good at it. 

Kageyama was about done when he muttered something under his breath. Hinata focused his attention back on him. “What was that?”

He glanced up at Hinata and then went back to work as he repeated himself. “I said, ‘aren’t all strangers unknown?’”

“What?”

“You called me an ‘unknown stranger’ earlier, but isn’t a stranger automatically unknown?”

Hinata hummed and thought for a moment. “Well...what about celebrities? They’re strangers but you kinda know them.”

“Do you see a lot of celebrities walking around this wasteland?”

“I mean, I guess not, but there’s gotta be some celebrities somewhere! Wait, do you think they still count as celebrities now or are they just regular people again? I swear I once saw a ghoul that looked exactly like Steve Buschemi, I wonder if it was really him. Have you ever met a celebrity zombie, Kageyama?”

Kageyama looked slightly overwhelmed. He finished wrapping Hinata’s ankle and moved it off of his lap. Hinata put his socks and boot back on.

“Um, no,” Kageyama replied.

“Well that’s okay, I’ll keep Buschemi-zombie in my heart for you. Oh, actually, I just thought of another known stranger. You know those distant relatives you have and when you go to a family reunion you have to pretend that you care about some random lady who has the same last name as you? That’s totally another one.”

“Sure, yeah.”

Hinata was a little surprised by his short responses. Kageyama had been yelling at him a few minutes ago, and now he was all monosyllabic answers? He decided to test the water a bit.

“I have this younger sister, Natsu, and she was born after the undead rose. Sometimes I think about everything she’s missed. I don’t know if it’s better to lose the world or to never have known it. But anyway, I’ve always thought she’s lucky that she doesn’t have to meet distant relatives! I had this one uncle… damn, he was weird.”

Kageyama looked down at the ground. One of his feet started to tap out a rhythm against the cracked linoleum. A long moment passed before he responded to Hinata’s tangent.

“I had a sister too.”

 _Tap tap tap_. 

Hinata could feel the tension in the air. Subtlety wasn’t his forte, but he tried to be conscientious as he asked his next question. 

“Did she, um… is she--”

“She’s dead.”

 _Tap tap tap_. 

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Death was common nowadays. Hinata knew that frequency didn’t make it hurt any less.

“How long ago--?”

“End of last summer.”

 _Tap tap tap_. 

It was early spring now. 

“Shit, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Hinata doubted that.

 _Tap tap tap_. 

“And have you been… alone, since then?”

Kageyama’s gaze stayed fixed on the ground. 

“Yeah.”

 _Tap tap tap_.

Hinata felt his mouth drop open a bit. Kageyama had been alone for months and months. And, fuck, he had to deal with his sister’s death _all alone_. At least he had Natsu after his mother died, though the baby hadn’t been much of a conversationalist. And then he’d met Tsukishima and Suga and fuck fuck _fuck_ , he can’t believe Kageyama’s been alone for so long, and--

“Stay with me! I mean, us. My group. We’re open to new members.”

Kageyama’s foot stilled. Something like shock passed across his face. Hinata cursed his mouth for having a mind of its own. He scrambled to recover. 

“Um, but only if you want to? I don’t think it’s good to be alone for so long, and you seem… nice. I used to be alone too, but the group accepted me in. That was like, eight years ago, but we’ve added so many people since then! I’m sure we’d be happy to have a new member.”

Kageyama was quiet for a long time. 

“Thank you, but I’ll have to pass.”

Now Hinata was the shocked one. He couldn’t imagine how Kageyama didn’t want to join a group after being alone since last summer. Hinata wasn’t _that_ annoying, was he?

“Oh, okay! If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to join us. Although, it can’t be good for you to be alone too long. Can I ask why you won’t join?

“No.”

Hinata sputtered. In the back of his mind, he wished that he was still sipping his soup so that he could have done a spit take.

“Well, alright! Sorry for being nice, I guess.”

The two fell into silence. Hinata eyelids were getting heavier; it had been a long day. Just when Hinata thought they were done speaking for the day, Kageyama opened his mouth.

And then closed it.

And then opened it again.

Hinata wondered if he was doing a grouper impression. The fourth time Kageyama opened and closed his mouth, Hinata was fed up.

“Just spit it out already!”

Kageyama startled, but then his face settled into a look of determination. “Right,” he responded, “You’re right. I don’t want to be completely alone.”

“Then why won’t you stay with us?” Hinata asked.

“It’s… complicated. I won’t join your group, but I don’t want to be alone. I was thinking that we could make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“A deal. You’ve been separated from your group, right?”

Hinata nodded.

“That’s what I thought. So, I’ll help you get back home, and you’ll come visit me every once in a while.”

Hinata pondered it for a moment. He _had_ just offered to let Kageyama stay with his group, so he didn’t see how visiting him would do any harm. Plus, it would be nice to have backup while he made his way home. Hinata smiled. 

“Deal! Oh, and you’ll get to meet everybody when you drop me off! Natsu will love you, but I think Tsukishima might kill me for real if I bring a stranger back with me… that’ll be so much fun!”

Kageyama frowned. “That’s not going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to meet with your group. Actually, don’t even tell your group that I exist.”

Hinata titled his head. “What, why?”

“Just don’t. Otherwise, the deal’s off.”

“Fine,” Hinata whined, “But my group has this buddy rule and-- ugh, now I have to sneak around! Daichi is gonna hate me if he finds out.”

Kageyama crossed his arms. “Figure it out.”

“You’re so mean! Whatever, at least now I know that you _want_ to hang out with me.”

Kageyama looked a little flustered. “I don’t want to hang out with _you_ , I just need to hang out with somebody!”

“You’re such a charmer, Kageyama.”

“Shut up. I’m going to sleep. We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

With that, he laid on his side, facing towards the shelves. Hinata huffed and grabbed the jacket he had let Kageyama use as a pillow. It smelled horrid, but it was better than nothing. Hinata turned so that his back faced Kageyama and let his eyes fall shut. He fell asleep to the sound of the other boy’s soft breaths.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata awoke, bright and early, to the sounds of muffled curses. He sat up, squinting at the light. Once his eyes focused, he saw the source of the swearing was an angry Kageyama fiddling with...sticks? Yes, those were definitely wooden sticks. 

“Whatcha up to over there?”

Kageyama startled a bit. Hinata tried to tell himself that it was mean to find that funny. 

“I’m making a fire.”

Hinata looked up at the grocery store’s ceiling and then back down at Kageyama. Somehow, making a flame indoors didn’t sound like the best idea.

“Is that...safe?” Hinata asked.

“Of course it is,” Kageyama replied, “The fire’s only going to be lit for a short time and the floor is inflammable. Besides, the room’s big enough that we shouldn’t suffocate from the smoke.”

That was comforting. Kageyama continued fiddling around with the firewood, and Hinata quickly realized that his curses from earlier were because Kageyama was completely incapable of lighting a fire. 

Hinata stifled a laugh and reached out a hand. “Here, hand me the flint and steel.”

Kageyama looked grumpy but complied. Hinata shuffled closer to the wood and got started; soon, a merry little fire was crackling away on the floor. Hinata tried not to be obvious with his smugness, but it was hard when he saw how irritated Kageyama's expression was. Kageyama opened up his back and brought out a metal pot and a water bottle. Something about Hinata’s face must have shown how thirsty he was, because Hinata heard a quiet, “I’ll share it with you.”

Kageyama set the pot on the fire and filled it with water; he must not have purified the water yet. Hinata sat idly and watched the flames. Suddenly, he remembered the little tin of coffee he’d tucked away into his pocket. He pulled out the tin with a grin and showed it to Kageyama. He tried to keep his face blank, but Hinata could tell he was pleased about the coffee. Hinata had been planning on saving it for special occasions, but there was plenty of coffee in the tin. Today was a special occasion, right? It wasn’t every day that you had to journey through unknown lands with a stranger. 

A few minutes later, Kageyama pulled the pot off of the flame and Hinata mixed in the instant coffee. From somewhere in the depths of his bag, Kageyama produced a small container of berries. The two of them passed the berries and coffee back and forth; Hinata thought it was surprisingly peaceful. 

Once their breakfast was done, they checked their respective injuries. Hinata wanted to switch out Kageyama’s bandages, but there weren’t enough supplies in the first aid kit. Despite this, Kageyama insisted that his side was fine. Figuring it was a little too early in the morning to start a fight, Hinata accepted it and started to get ready to leave. He didn’t have much besides his clothes, coffee, and knives (which he never went without), so packing up was easy. They did a quick check of the store for any more supplies, and then finally set off for the day. 

Hinata stepped out of the grocery store first and scanned their surroundings. There were no geeks as far as he could see, so he started walking. Kageyama followed behind, his footsteps almost completely silent. Although he hadn’t asked, Hinata figured he should share his plan with Kageyama. 

“So, I was thinking we could make our way to the highway, and hopefully I can find my way back from there.”

“Highway’s in the other direction.”

Hinata’s feet screeched to a stop. “What?”

“You seemed pretty sure of yourself when you left the store, so I let you take the lead.”

“And you didn’t tell me we were going in the wrong direction?” Hinata questioned. 

“It’s not like you told me where we were going!”

Hinata kicked at the ground, but had to admit that he had no idea where to go. “Fine. Lead the way, Directions Boy.”

Kageyama stormed past him and Hinata followed. Soon, they reached a small two-lane road leading away from the town. The two of them walked down it for what had to be a couple miles. Hinata kept trying to start a conversation, but Kageyama shot down every question. The temperature grew hotter as the sun moved higher in the sky, and both boys became increasingly sweaty and irritated. Eventually, they reached the highway. Hinata was relieved when he recognized a town on one of the road signs. All they had to do was walk about ten miles down the highway before Hinata reached familiar territory. Hinata relayed the information and received a grunt in response. 

There were abandoned cars scattered all along the highway, and they steered clear of them while walking by. Often, ghouls would hide in or under cars, and neither boy was a fan of sneak attacks from the undead. A few miles into their walk, however, they reached an impasse. There was a pileup of wrecked cars stretching all the way across the highway. The boys stopped and contemplated their next move; it seemed easiest to walk along the highway to get past the pileup, but Kageyama pointed out that the tall grass and ivy on either side of the road could hide ghouls just as well as the cars could. Hinata thought of geeks lurking in the grass, completely hidden and just waiting for someone to walk by--

“We’ll stay on the highway!” Hinata announced, only a little shrill. 

Kageyama shrugged and started walking, though not without pulling out his bow. Briefly, Hinata wondered how he managed to carry his backpack, bow, and quiver all at the same time. He unsheathed his own knives and followed close behind Kageyama.

The two of them picked their way carefully through the pileup. They tried their best to find a path that kept them far away from cars, but most of the vehicles were tightly packed together. Hinata could hear muffled groans and shuffling from deep within the pile of twisted metal. They unnerved him, but Hinata could tell that they weren’t close enough to be an immediate threat. 

They were just about to exit through the other side of the pileup when, in a split second, Hinata saw a hand reach out from underneath a car and yank Kageyama to the ground. Kageyama shouted as he was pulled part way underneath the car; Hinata knew he had seconds before the ghoul managed to land a bite on his leg. 

Acting on pure instinct, he dropped his knives and lunged forward to grab underneath Kageyama’s arms and drag him back out from under the car. The ghoul, still attached to Kageyama’s ankle, was dragged as well. Hinata let go of Kageyama and scrambled to pick up one of his knives from the ground. Kageyama recovered from his shock and unsuccessfully tried to kick the ghoul off of him. Finally, Hinata felt his hand close around a familiar hilt. He lunged forward again, this time driving his knife cleanly through the back of the ghoul’s head. The ghoul’s body slumped to the ground and Kageyama pried its hand off of his leg. 

Kageyama shuffled so that he was kneeling on the ground, careful to avoid the rapidly expanding puddle of blood. Hinata mirrored his position and the two stared at each other for a moment, still breathing heavily from the exertion and leftover adrenaline.

Kageyama looked away. “Uh, thanks for the save.”

Hinata smiled. “It’s no--”

Before he could finish, Kageyama’s eyes widened and he snatched his bow up from where he had dropped it earlier. In a matter of seconds, he had loaded it and shot off an arrow over Hinata’s shoulder. Hinata heard a thud from behind him. He spun around to see a geek just a few yards away from him; it must have snuck out from behind a car while Hinata and Kageyama weren't paying attention. One of Kageyama’s arrows stuck out from its left eye socket. Blood dripped down the ghoul’s face as it stood still for a second before slumping to its knees and then onto its side. 

“--problem.”

This time, both boys jumped to their feet and sprinted the rest of their way through the pileup. Even after they reached the other side they kept running, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the pile of death and car tires they had passed through. Eventually, Hinata’s ankle started to burn and he slowed to a stop. Kageyama followed his lead; Hinata wouldn’t be surprised if his own injury was hurting after all the running.

Hinata placed his hands on his hips and laughed shakily. Kageyama met his eyes and his lips quirked upwards. It was the closest thing Hinata had seen to a smile from him. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata figured that their near death experience must have formed some kind of bond between them, because after the incident in the pileup, Kageyama was much more talkative. Well, ‘talkative’ was a little generous, but now Kageyama actually responded to some of his questions instead of staring stonily into the distance. At the moment, Kageyama was giving a brief description of a time he had seen an entire town set on fire, back when he was a kid. 

“Oh! My mom actually had a theory that’s kinda about that,” Hinata responded, “She thought that all of the burning buildings and cooking fires from the initial panic built up ash in the sky, and that’s why those first few winters were so bad.”

Kageyama’s eyebrows scrunched up. His expression looked far away; Hinata thought that bringing up the First Winters may have been a mistake. He was about to apologize and change topics when Kageyama opened his mouth.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Hinata crossed his arms and stopped walking. Kageyama made it a few steps before he realized his companion had stopped. He whirled around, a scowl firmly in place. Hinata was more fired up than he’d been in years; for some reason Kageyama seemed to get under his skin. 

“Huh?! What do you know about winter? My mom was the smartest person I’ve ever known.”

Kageyama scoffed. “Like that means much coming from a dumbass like you.”

“Bakageyama! Who made you the authority on dumbasses?”

“If anyone’s an authority on dumbasses, it’s you, dumbass.”

“You can’t just use dumbass twice in the same sentence, it’s uncreative! Anyway, since I’m apparently the authority on dumbasses, I declare that my mother was not a dumbass and never said a single stupid thing in her entire life.”

“That’s not how it works!”

“Well, as the King of Dumbasses, I declare that that’s how it works.”

“You’re a king now?”

“I’m whatever I want to be! You could have just told me if you wanted to be a king so badly, Your Majesty.”

Kageyama clenched his fists at his sides. His brow was even more furrowed than it was before. Hinata was starting to think that arguing was a bad idea. In his defense, Kageyama had totally started it -- nobody gets away with insulting his family. For a long moment, Hinata expected Kageyama to lash out. He tensed up and shifted his stance into one that was better for fighting.

Suddenly, Kageyama relaxed his hands. He let out a sigh and then turned to continue walking down the road. Hinata’s eyes widened and he watched Kageyama walk away in shock. What had just happened? He had been fully prepared for a fistfight. Despite his shock, Hinata couldn’t help but be relieved. There was no way a real fight between the two would end well.

Hinata shook his head and rushed to catch up with Kageyama. The two walked in a tense silence for a few minutes. Hinata felt himself get progressively more antsy; he was naturally talkative and he couldn’t stand the lingering tension in the air. Besides, Hinata kind of liked talking with Kageyama. He was a stranger and grumpy as hell, but something about him seemed to draw Hinata in.

Another few minutes, and Hinata couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Kag--”

“I’m sorry.”

Hinata whipped his head around and stared at Kageyama with wide eyes.

Kageyama’s scowl returned. “Stop looking at me with your weird bug eyes. I’m sorry that I called your mom’s idea stupid. It sort of makes sense.”

“Oh...well, apology accepted, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Alright, I forgive you! Only you could give such an awful apology.”

Hinata made a show of kicking at a rock on the road and pouting, but internally he was pleased. Kageyama hadn’t struck him as the type to make unprompted apologies. Now that Kageyama had broken the uncomfortable silence, Hinata was free to talk about whatever he wanted. He looked over at the taller boy. Kageyama was argumentative, sure, but his earlier reaction seemed extreme. Maybe it had to do with the First Winters? Hinata decided that he would find a way to subtly bring up the topic.

“So… you seem to know a lot about winter.”

Fuck. He should have gone subtler. 

Hinata waited for Kageyama’s reaction with bated breath, but the only thing the other boy did was send him a suspicious glance.

“I grew up in the north,” Kageyama explained. 

“Wow! Really? I’ve never been north before, but I’ve always wanted to see snow. It’s snowed a couple times here before but it’s never enough to stick to the ground-- have you ever built a snowman, Kageyama? I’ve lived in the south my whole life, but--”

“I could tell.”

“--snowmen are-- wait, what? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, I can tell you grew up in the south.”

Hinata looked at him incredulously. “It’s not an accent, is it? I didn’t think I had an accent.”

Kageyama was starting to look a little embarrassed. Hinata could see his hands fidgeting. 

“No, it’s not an accent.”

“Then how could you tell I’m from the south?”

Kageyama was silent for a long moment. Hinata began to think that he would never respond when he blurted out, “You’re just so...orange.”

“Orange? Do you mean my hair?” Hinata asked, confusion clear on his face.

“Your hair, I guess, and your...everything.” Kageyama made a vague gesture towards Hinata.

“If you’re thinking about the fruit, you’re in the wrong state.”

“No, not the fruit! It’s more like -- you know what, forget it.”

Hinata was not about to let this go. He was used to comments about his height and his hair -- Tsukishima was especially harsh -- but never had someone told him that they knew he was southern because he was _orange_. What the hell did that even mean?

“Do you mean orange like an Oompa Loompa, Kageyama?”

“Oompa Loo-- no, of course not! I mean, you have an orange, um, an orange...vibe.”

Hinata’s face was blank. “An orange vibe.”

A blush was starting to creep onto Kageyama’s cheeks. Hinata was delighted. Kageyama opened his mouth to respond, and then abruptly shut it. His blush deepened. 

“Your hair and voice and personality -- they’re very bright. Makes me think of the south.”

“In what universe does “vibe” have to do with where you’re from?”

“It totally does! Anyway, I told you to forget about it, so let’s forget about it.”

Hinata squeezed his lips together, trying desperately to hold in the laughter bubbling up. Hinata thought that he fought valiantly, but he couldn’t stop the giggle that slipped past his defenses. When he looked at Kageyama, he was surprised by the absolutely scandalized look on his face. Hinata couldn’t hold it in any longer. His laughter shook his whole body and he reached to hold his stomach. Tears started to gather in his eyes. Kageyama’s face shifted from scandalized to annoyed and embarrassed. Hinata had seen more varied emotions from him in the past thirty minutes than he had in all of the rest of the time he had known him (though, granted, that time was less than twenty-four hours).

Kageyama grabbed Hinata’s face and gave him a light shove. Hinata’s laughter started to fade, but Kageyama’s face was still looking like a tomato. Hinata kept his gaze fixed on the road in front of them; if he saw Kageyama’s face, he knew he’d start laughing again.

A few minutes later, Kageyama spoke again.

“So, Bakageyama?”

Hinata could see the slightest smirk on Kageyama’s face. Now it was Hinata’s turn to flush. 

“It was spur-of-the-moment!”

He swore that Kageyama let out a quiet laugh at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm not super happy with how abruptly this chapter ends, but it was already getting too long. Writing the dialogue for this chapter was so fun. 
> 
> Do I think that a ten-year-old would be able to care for a newborn baby all by himself for weeks? No. Will I write it into my story anyway? Yes. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, happy new year, remember to eat your vegetables, all that good stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I've never written any fanfiction before so this is really new to me. Honestly, I'm a little astounded that the first thing I write is a Haikyuu!! zombie apocalypse fic.
> 
> OH, also! This fic is heavily inspired by irusu_u3's fic "The Streets of Tokyo", so go check that out if you're into seeing volleyball-playing anime characters struggle to survive in a city ravaged by zombies and rival gangs (I know I am). I also take a lot of cues from pretty much every piece of zombie-related media I've ever consumed, so if you see similarities it's definitely because of that. Special thanks to the book World War Z and the show The Walking Dead (which I've only seen a few episodes of).
> 
> Thank you, tune in next time to see Hinata & friends face off against undead hordes.
> 
> Okay actually sorry to keep talking but I'm a whore for zombie apocalypse stories even though I find the premise inherently funny in fanfictions. Like, oh, you know that cheery orange haired kid that loves to play volleyball? Let's read about him fucking stabbing somebody. Let's see him battle the forces of evil. The dude just wants to play volleyball.


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